Did I Mention I Love You? (The DIMILY Trilogy #1)
by Estelle Maskame
Publisher – Black & White Publishing
Release Date – July 1st 2015
Buy – Amazon | Book Depository
When sixteen-year-old Eden Munro agrees to spend the summer with her estranged father in the beachfront city of Santa Monica, California, she has no idea what she’s letting herself in for. Eden’s parents are divorced and have gone their separate ways, and now her father has a brand new family. For Eden, this means she’s about to meet three new step-brothers. The eldest of the three is Tyler Bruce, a troubled teenager with a short temper and a huge ego. Complete polar opposites, Eden quickly finds herself thrust into a world full of new experiences as Tyler’s group of friends take her under their wing. But the one thing she just can’t understand is Tyler, and the more she presses to figure out the truth about him, the more she finds herself falling for the one person she shouldn’t – her step-brother.
Throw in Tyler’s clingy girlfriend and a guy who has his eyes set on Eden, and there’s secrets, lies and a whole lot of drama. But how can Eden keep her feelings under control? And can she ever work out the truth about Tyler?
Did I Mention I Love You is the first book in the phenomenal DIMILY trilogy, following the lives of Eden Munro and Tyler Bruce as they try to find their way in an increasingly confusing world.
It’s been a long time hasn’t it. The last time I posted was over a month ago and I really didn’t mean for me to have such a break. I guess I’ve been pre-occupied and I just haven’t felt the need to review very much, but I am pleased to say that I am indeed back, then I’ll be having a Christmas break, and then back in time for a new year and a new start once again.
On my break this has been the best of the bunch by far. I was in terrible need for a romance and one such as a step-sibling one, colour me intrigued. What I also love is you really don’t have to wait very long for the remaining novels in the trilogy, which is awesome. At the beginning I wasn’t sure because of the growing love and hype for this book, but I did what I’m trying my best at which is forgetting what other people say and just zone out.
It’s just Eden Munro and her mum this summer but when her dad invites to stay over the summer with him and his family. She’s like what the hell?! a) her dad hasn’t spoken to her in 3 years since the divorce and b) she hasn’t exactly forgiven him for leaving her and her mum for younger person. But opportunity and curiosity beacons when she accepts his offer, a summer in Saint Monica has got to be better than a summer there. Only it isn’t as easy as it sounds, with the awkwardness between her father and the serious hotness and bad boy vibe, Eden is in a world of trouble.
Maskame doesn’t just create a romance step-sibling contemporary, although that part was rather scorching. However she pours everything else that happens to a sixteen year old girl that makes so much more than just a romance, but a truly relatable and honest character. I felt that reading through the protagonist of Eden, the relationship between her and her mum was inspiring, and truly touching especially when my relationship with my mum is so similar that it really did hit home for me. Eden clearly hasn’t had a great time with her friendships back home either, because of this she is a little too accepting when it comes to some of her friendship in Saint Monica. Doing crazy things that she wouldn’t usually do, she became quit the opposite of what her persona really like. Although I felt that she growing as a person, she became a lot stronger, she grew some balls basically, that’s the side of her I really loved. Despite living there, she keeps one part of home life vicariously through her best friend too, to make sure she doesn’t lose herself along the way. I felt that Eden really got me as a person. Although I didn’t fall my step-sibling as I don’t have any. Aow.
Tyler Bruce is the badass of all YA badassness boys. But a lot of people will think that, including Eden, she thought all kinds of things, the polite way to put it was he was a tool! The truth is, he is misunderstood and very much a damaged soul. I mentioned the darker side to humanity that Maskame really captures, and Tyler is the epitome of it! Tyler drinks, deals and takes drugs and in incredible insulting and rude. All of that was a front, a disguise to what and who he is. Truth be told it was quite a shock and truly heartbreaking. I won’t spoiler for you all because that wouldn’t be fair and I would rather wait for you to all read…queues the suspense. Tyler’s character really did shine throughout this entire novel, what I would have loved was maybe hearing his side of the story as I think you would see so much rawness and heartbreak convey through his and his actions. But really that is just a minor critique of DIMILY!
Together Tyler and Eden are doomed from the beginning. there is no way that their relationship could be perfect or even realistic to their outside world. However for that’s a load of crap and I think they are perfect, the main argument in my eyes would be, ‘well I didn’t know that Tyler was my step-brother, I laid eyes on him before I even knew.’ Ha. But I find the whole forbidden step-sibling romance totally hot, I mean there really isn’t another work for it. Just something about it makes you and Eden feel totally reckless and fun, and I love that!!!! Oh and the step-brother, Tyler in this case is almost way hotter which isn’t fair when your sharing genes with him. Overall though I found that together it was Eden’s weakness and Tyler’s strength. They built a foundation together, a way that made the whole thing more perfect. They aren’t perfect by a long shot in this novel but I hope that they are going to be.
DIMILY is a book that really hit me in all levels and I related to Eden’s characters more strongly than any other contemporary novel this year. I find that I can’t wait for both books and I think I will need to keep reading these every year just to get that perfect hit of step-sibling romance. It’s a sensational debut novel and series from the highly acclaimed Wattpad enthusiast and now author.
Rating: 5
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Glad this delivered right when you needed it! I will have to look this up, it is new to me but it sounds so like something I would love as well.
Ohhh you've got me intrigued as well!
it's great to find a romance like that that moves you. I think I heard about the novel but I didn't get further. I'm curious.
This one is completely new to me but it sounds like a winner for sure Emma! I need to check out more stories on Wattpad, some amazing authors got started there and I have no doubt more will keep on coming:)
Nice to see you around again! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I do find the ste-sibling romance relationship interesting. Glad to hear you really loved this one!
-Lauren
Welcome back, Emma! Well, you make this sound fantastic, though I have to say that the step-sibling romantic entanglement is off-putting to me, personally. It's a good thing that the story is about other things as well, and that, individually, the characters are compelling. Wonderful review.
Ooh, this one seems to have a lot of aspects that I really love in a contemporary so I will have to check it out for sure!